New Releases
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September 23, 2022In These Times, the new album by percussionist, producer, and composer Makaya McCraven, has been in process since 2015. It’s the album McCraven’s been trying to make since he started making records, an appropriately career-defining body of work. The eleven-song suite was created over seven-plus years, as McCraven strived to fuse odd-meter compositions from his working songbook with orchestral, large-ensemble arrangements and the edit-heavy “organic beat music” he’s honed over the years. With contributions from over a dozen musicians and creative partners from his tight-knit circle of collaborators—including Jeff Parker, Junius Paul, Brandee Younger, Joel Ross, and Marquis Hill—In These Times highlights McCraven’s unique gift for collapsing space, destroying borders, and blending past, present, and future into poly-textural arrangements of post-genre, jazz-rooted 21st-century folk music.
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Crooked Tree, the Nonesuch Records debut album from singer, songwriter, and musician Molly Tuttle and her band Golden Highway, was recorded live at Nashville’s Oceanway Studios. The album was produced by Tuttle and Jerry Douglas and features collaborations with Sierra Hull, Old Crow Medicine Show, Margo Price, Billy Strings, Dan Tyminski, and Gillian Welch. These thirteen tracks, all written or co-written by Tuttle, explore her lifelong love of bluegrass. "Molly Tuttle’s fingers move so quickly, she could pick your pocket without breaking stride," says the New York Times. NPR calls it "a set of dashingly virtuosic songs."
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Composer/singer/songwriter Gabriel Kahane's Magnificent Bird, chronicles the final month of a year spent off the internet. Kahane explores quiet, domestic concerns, coupled with losses personal and collective, against the backdrop of a nation and planet in crisis. "Deft, prose poem-like songs: an illuminating humanity is absolutely key," says Mojo. "A most eloquent exploration of our current lot." The San Francisco Chronicle calls it "a gorgeous, intimate collection ... glistening and magical." Guest musicians include Sam Amidon, Punch Brothers' Chris Thile and Paul Kowert, Caroline Shaw, and Mountain Man's Amelia Meath.
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The Staves' Be Kind EP features the band's take on Kate Bush's "Cloudbusting," from her album, Hounds of Love, and five tracks in their Be Kind series of stripped down, alternative versions of songs from their 2021 album, Good Woman: "Devotion," "Careful, Kid," "Failure," "Best Friend," and "Good Woman."
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Brad Mehldau’s album Jacob’s Ladder features new music that reflects on scripture and the search for God through music inspired by the prog rock he loved as a young adolescent—his gateway to the fusion that eventually led to his discovery of jazz. Featured musicians on the album include label mates Chris Thile and Cécile McLorin Salvant, as well as Mark Guiliana, Becca Stevens, Joel Frahm, and others. Mojo calls it "a kaleidoscopic affair, where baroque prog-rock edifices are juxtaposed with clouds of ethereal choirs, dreamy piano interludes, and squalls of free jazz-style clarinet. Skillfully weaving these elements into storytelling sound collages, Mehldau takes the listener on a memorable musical journey."
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Singer/songwriter Cécile McLorin Salvant's Nonesuch Records debut album, Ghost Song, features a diverse mix of seven originals and five interpretations on the themes of ghosts, nostalgia, and yearning. The New York Times calls it "her most revealing and rewarding album yet." Uncut says she is "one of the most daring and resourceful vocalists in jazz—or any other genre, for that matter." The Arts Desk exclaims: "The treasure trove of marvels that is Ghost Song exceeds all expectations." Nonesuch Store LP and CD orders include an exclusive, limited edition signed artwork by Salvant while they last.
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LIFE ON EARTH, the Nonesuch debut of Hurray for the Riff Raff (aka Alynda Segarra), is a departure for the Bronx-born, New Orleans-based singer/songwriter. Its eleven new "nature punk" tracks on the theme of survival are music for a world in flux—songs about thriving, not just surviving, while disaster is happening. The album was recorded during the pandemic with producer Brad Cook (Waxahatchee, Bon Iver, Kevin Morby). While making it, Segarra drew inspiration from the Clash, Beverly Glenn-Copeland, Bad Bunny, and the author of Emergent Strategy, adrienne maree brown. "A major step forward for one of today's most vital artists," exclaims Uncut. "The first great album of 2022." Nonesuch Store LP and CD orders include a limited-edition print autographed by Segarra, while they last.
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Pianist and composer Tigran Hamasyan's "Ara Resurrected (Dawatile Remix)," a remix of a track from his 2020 album, The Call Within, was recorded by Dawatile—producer, composer, and multi-instrumentalist David Kiledjian—in France, and co-produced with Hamasyan, with Dawatile adding electronic elements to Hamasyan’s piano playing from the original recording.
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Arca—the Venezuelan musician, singer, composer, and producer Alejandra Ghersi Rodriguez—reinterprets "Big Science," the title track to Laurie Anderson’s landmark 1982 debut album, in this remix made in her home studio in Barcelona. The original recording features Anderson on vocals, OBXa, percussion, and electronics; Roma Baran on glass harmonica; Perry Hoberman on bottles; and David Van Tieghem on RotoToms and timpani, as well as Anderson, Baran, Hoberman on "sticks."